Last Wednesday, just outside the village. At Château Saint-Maur, between vineyards and contemporary art, Cartier laid out its cases. Le Chœur des Pierres is the name of this new high jewellery collection. Over 125 unique pieces. Around 1,900 carats of centre stones. And 85,000 hours of craft.
The French title plays on sound: chœur (chorus) and cœur (heart) are homophones. The idea is orchestral. The stones sing together, Cartier conducts. Zambian emeralds, Ceylon sapphires, pink diamonds from Argyle (the mine is now closed, making them rarer still), Mozambican rubies. Some exceed 20 carats.
Among the star pieces: the Tutti Kanya necklace, centred on a 30.33-carat engraved emerald. The Panthère Kentia necklace with its 50.13-carat Ceylon sapphire. Rings too, eight one-off designs, including Auralis with its six Argyle pink diamonds.
The event drew international press and celebrities including Shu Qi, Tilda Swinton and Zoe Saldaña. The setting? A seventeenth-century château filled with works by Damien Hirst, Yves Klein, Anselm Kiefer. Mediterranean light brings out every nuance, every inclusion, every flash. Which is precisely what the house wanted: to show how stones come alive under the Côte's sun.
Cartier has no boutique in Saint-Tropez, but this presentation anchors the brand in the peninsula's summer landscape. Quiet luxury, craft on display.
